Real estate bug

We have lived in 6 properties in 8 years since moving to London. So for the first couple of years, it seemed like I was always looking for a place to live.  I've looked at both rentals and sales in a lot of different neighbourhoods.  Everyone has different definitions of a desirable place to live.  I tend to value hubs where many different tubes and buses converge, very convenient for getting around but not necessarily the prettiest neighbourhood. The amenities that many people look for, like a park and quiet streets, are not as important to me as the ability to get places quickly.  My list of requirements has been honed over the many searches we have done.  But there comes a time in every search when you have to decide what you are willing to compromise on.  That too changes depending on your circumstances and time of life.

When we first moved here, the priority was finding a place where I could walk both children to school even though I had picked schools in different neighbourhoods.  That was a "location above all" house and it worked very well for that which was the most I could say for it. The only thing I remember about that house was darkness and it was so small, half our stuff was in storage.  We rectified that with the next house where we had lots of light and lots of space.  The trade off?  20 minutes further from things.  20 minutes may not seem like a lot, but in London that 20 minutes could easily be an hour depending on traffic or tube reliability.  That's when I realized that I could not be at the mercy of a capricious tube line and a single congested road to get from the centre of town to home.

So after we were done with that house, we decided to buy so we could stop moving.  That involved being in temporary accommodation while we looked for something to buy.  Well, what started off as a three month let in a tiny, dark but incredibly convenient flat turned into 8 months.  Since it was meant to be a short let, most of our things were in storage including clothes. It was a boring winter from a clothing standpoint, you can't replace your entire wardrobe when you know it's sitting in storage.  I think it was a reaction to living in such cramped quarters that we ended up buying our first place in London.  It was a bit oversized but I loved it.  It still wasn't great from a light perspective, it had one sunny room where I spent a lot of time.  It had a lot going for it, location, space and services.  When it was time to move on from there, once again we ended up in a rental, this time big enough that we didn't need to rent extra storage.  Instead, we lived for 14 months with random stacks of boxes in the flat, hardly relaxing. We should have learned from the last time but once again, what we thought would be a short rental turned into 14 months while we looked for, then renovated our current place.

I love the place we are in now, it combines my must haves, light, space and convenience.  I feel like we've hit the jackpot, the compromises I have made have been very minor.  Having laid out the space ourselves, it works with the way we live.  I understand now why people build their own houses, it is very pleasant to live in a space designed for your life.  But I can understand when we go and sell it, that the next people will find it not as convenient and they won't love it as much as we do until they've moved some things around.  I hope I don't take it personally when that happens.

During our many years of looking, I have developed a fascination for property, the way people live in them and how much of their emotions are tied up in it.  I remember a place we almost bought that was just lovely until the survey came back.  When we brought it up with the owners, they were incredulous since they had lived there for 23 years and never noticed any of the things that were red flagged.  The longest I've ever lived in a house I've owned is 4 years and still I could no longer see all the things that needed doing that was obvious to an outsider, so I can imagine what it would have been like after 20 years.

I subscribe to many property websites that e mail me with updates when new properties come on the market fitting my parameters.  Even now, more than a year after we bought our place, I can't bring myself to unsubscribe.  I live vicariously through the listings, looking at floorplans, thinking about how I would redo the space to suit me.  I saw a listing the other day where a house had been overdeveloped with a price tag to match.  I remember looking at it thinking it was probably done by first timers who got carried away and overspent and now they have to ask this outrageous price so they could at least break even.  Have they never watched Property Ladder?  I would love to have the opportunity to try it myself, I'm not sure I would be any better but it would be fun to try.  But since I didn't win the roll over jackpot on Saturday, I'll have to content myself with doing over floorplans virtually for now.